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Universal free school meals are not the answer to rising living costs

17 Sep 2013

There are better ways to spend £600mn

Commenting on the announcement that free school meals will be introduced for all 5 – 7 year olds, Mark Littlewood, Director General at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:

“This is an enormously bad use of public money. Not unreasonably, the government already ensures that those in need have access to free school meals, so it beggars belief that we are now going to see a policy instated which will subsidise the children of affluent families.

“If the government meaningfully wants to ease the burden of rising living costs then they would be better placed to introduce a £437 tax cut each year and give parents some choice.”

The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.